︎ Jacquelyn Zong-Li Ross is a writer and editor based in Vancouver, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ nations. Her fiction, poetry, essays, and art criticism have appeared in BOMB, C Mag, The Ex-Puritan, Fence, Mousse, and alongside exhibitions and artist projects at The Bows, Centre Clark, Franz Kaka, Mercer Union, SFU Galleries, Susan Hobbes Gallery, and elsewhere. Her chapbooks include Mayonnaise and Drawings on Yellow Paper (with Katie Lyle). She publishes occasional books by emerging artists and writers under the small press Blank Cheque, and is currently the Art Editor of The Capilano Review, a westcoast journal of experimental art and poetics. She is at work on a novel and a collection of short stories.

Contact: jacquelynzross {at} gmail {dot} com

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Selected Writing

2022


~ Five Cricket Songs (after Umico Niwa)

Poems written to accompany Umico Niwa’s exhibition, Neighbourly Pest, at Tilling, Montréal

~ soothsay

Exhibition text for Gabi Dao & geetha thurairajah at Centre Clark, Montréal



2021


~ Elementary Brioche

Short story for Minority Vibration, a special issue of The Puritan, guest-edited by Sheung-King

~ from Fifty Times You Leave Your Lover

Poetic response to Mira Dayal’s artist book, Hair Biography, for the ee!

~ Laurie Kang: Story of the Gut

Catalogue essay to accompany the exhibition Unfixed: Laurie Kang and Chris Curreri at Gordon Smith Gallery, North Vancouver


2020


~ Napping Against Capitalism

Short story for the group exhibition The Pandemic is a Portal at SFU Galleries, Vancouver

~ The Perfect Crime

Fictional accompaniment to Erdem Taşdelen's public billboard project, Vicissitudes, at Mercer Union, Toronto


2019


~ Cute, Good-Looking, Funny, Sweet

Essay on the kind of art that is suspiciously easy to digest for Mousse

~ Lizzie’s Laborufluvs

Short story for the exhibition Disputed Bodies at Trinity Square Video, Toronto

~ Death Wish

A not-too dark letter for Agony Klub’s ongoing “death wish” series, modelled after Mike Kelley’s art school entrance letter

~ Four Poems

Light text accoutrements for Sorry, I’m Busy, an exhibition of Capricorn artists at Support Projects, London, Ontario

2018


~ A Brief History of Feeling

Flash fiction for BOMB Magazine

~ "Wanted: Abject Dreamers for New Study of the Inner Ear $15/hr"

A Kijiji ad for please teach me how to swim, an online project organized by Untitled Art Society, Calgary

~ The Picture Files

Flash fiction for the online publication Anna Hawkins: Fall Fell Felt at Untitled Art Society, Calgary

~ R.O.Y.G.B.I.V.

A poem in Fence


2017


~ Twelve Forecasts

More flash fiction for BOMB Magazine

~ How to Look at an Image, or a Black Hole

Essay accompanying the exhibition Semblance & Shadows Like Anxiety by Liza Eurich and Colin Miner at Stride Gallery, Calgary

~ Obliteration Ritual for Katie Lyle

Fictional portrait for Katie Lyle’s exhibition Why Do I Hear the Ocean in My Ear? at The Loon, Toronto

~ Origin Story for Franz Kaka

Fiction for a night of readings at Franz Kaka Gallery, Toronto


2016


~ Strange New Health

Fiction for the exhibition Strange New Health by Yi Xin Tong at Katzman Contemporary, Toronto

~ How To Tame A Fly, or: Some Unsolicited Commentary on Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon’s ‘A Space for Looking is a Space for Listening’

Exhibition review for Charcuterie

~ Ieva Miseviciute: Character Studies of Primeval Life Forms

Artist feature for Mousse

~ Everybody’s Talking about Bone Broth

Essay for Laugh Magazine, RCA London

~ Allison Hrabluik: The Splits

Exhibition review for C Magazine

~ East Georgia’s Shameless Loiterers

Poem for the Somewhat Urgent Series, edited by Steffanie Ling

~ Mystery Dust

An essay on the work of Liz Magor for The Capilano Review’s digital chapbook series ti-TCR

~ I Just Want To Talk About How I Just Want To Dance With You

A series of pamphlets on dance and criticism organized by Alexa Mardon and Brynn McNab at Unit/Pitt Projects, Vancouver

~ Hygiene Tricks & The People At Schick

Review of the exhibition Hypnic Jerk by Kara Hansen for The Bartleby Review


Mark